de bene esse: The 1920s Speakeasy with a Treehouse in the Backyard

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

This wonderfully nostalgic photograph was taken in the backyard of a speakeasy club called the Krazy Kat Club in Washington DC, July 15, 1921. It looks like they might have decided to move their staff meeting outside to their treehouse in the heavy heat of July– and nobody was in the mood for business! Every workplace should have a backyard treehouse really….

Here are a few other photos of the Krazy Kat…

The club was run by Cleon “Throck” Throckmorton, seen sitting on the terrace of the treehouse and outside the entrance.

“Krazy Kat in 1920 was a “Bohemian joint in an old stable up near Thomas Circle … (where) artists, musicians, atheists, professors” gathered. Miraculously the structure still stands, five blocks from the White House, as a gay bar called the Green Lantern. “ – Independent Gay Forum

It appears they also served customers drink in the tree house too!

Despite prohibition, the club served liquor to customers, and was raided many times from 1918 to about 1925. One of the raids in 1919 happened after a police officer walking nearby heard a gunshot from the club after midnight. Twenty-five people were arrested, including three women — artists, poets and actors, and some people who worked for the government by day and played with the bohemians by night.

[Washington Post of February 22, 1919].